As a process of manufacturing a semiconductor, a liquid crystal, an MEMS or a solar cell for example, a process is known in which a mixed gas prepared by mixing a low-vapor-pressure gas such as hydrogen fluoride (HF), chlorine trifluoride (ClF3) or boron trichloride (BCl3) provided as an active gas and a high-vapor-pressure gas such as argon (Ar), helium (He) or nitrogen (N2) provided as a diluting gas is used in a film forming step, an etching step for removing silicon, tungsten, aluminum or the like, or a cleaning step, and in which the interior of a manufacturing apparatus is evacuated with a vacuum pump to be in a low-pressure state and plasma etching is thereafter performed by introducing the mixed gas (see, for example, Patent Literature 1).
An apparatus using a booster pump, a compressor or the like for mixing a low-vapor-pressure gas and a high-vapor-pressure gas is also known (see, for example, Patent Literature 2).
Further, an apparatus is known in which a mixing container is charged with a mixed gas in a high-pressure state prepared by mixing a low-vapor-pressure gas provided as an active gas and a high-vapor-pressure gas provided as a diluting gas and the mixed gas is supplied in the high-pressure state from this mixing container to a use point and is ejected in the high-pressure state at the use point while being adiabatically expanded to generate a reactive cluster, thereby processing a surface of a semiconductor for example (see, for example, Patent Literature 3).